Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 18:48:14 -0700 From: "David Schwartz" <davids@webmaster.com> To: "Brett Glass" <brett@lariat.org>, "Jay Nelson" <jdn@acp.qiv.com> Cc: <freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: RE: FreeBSD Distributions: Leveling the playing field Message-ID: <000201befd8a$0b0dcac0$021d85d1@youwant.to> In-Reply-To: <4.2.0.58.19990912193601.04ad0da0@localhost>
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> > At 04:57 PM 9/12/99 -0500, Jay Nelson wrote: > > > >Would you apply that statement to human beings in general? If > so, who is to > > >judge the "quality" of the human being? Or to say that he or > she should be > > >treated differently -- i.e. deprived of rights -- because he > or she is not of > > >sufficient "quality?" > > > >Jeesh, Brett -- stop the socialist propaganda. > > It's not "socialist propaganda." It's a form of argument known as > "reductio > ad absurdum," which shows that an idea is absurd by taking it to > its logical > conclusion. Actually, this is a pretty unique form of reductio ad absurdum. Normally, reductio ad absurdum is used to refute 'general principles' by demonstrating that there are extreme cases to which they don't apply. However, what Brett did is the equivalent of "Because David's argument isn't true about people, it must not be true about FreeBSD." That would be an absurd argument even if its premises were true. I would further point out that equating "treating people differently" with "depriv[ing] them of rights" is typical of socialist propoganda. That is probably part of what prompted the response you got. DS To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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